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There's been a lot of talk recently about the plight of Generation Y. According to recent reports, this group of under 28 year olds are considered "property orphans", with supposedly no hope of ever owning their own home.
With their home ownership dreams dashed before they've even begun, no dependents and a decent sized disposable income,...

Australia's second biggest real estate group, LJ Hooker, has taken on the wave of disruptors eating into estate agents' income, by becoming a disruptor itself.
In a move that will see the 88-year-old company undercut the commissions of its own 8000-strong real estate network, LJ Hooker's new online-focused Settl business will empower vendors to sell their...

Today's housing crisis is worse than the 17pc home loans of the 1980s
Caitlin Fitzsimmons
Published: February 26, 2017 - 12:15AM
"But we paid 17 per cent interest on our mortgage!"
This line is often wheeled out by older generations to explain why younger people don't really have it tough in today's housing market.
It's rubbish.
It's quite true that interest...

There were 2,280 dwellings auctioned off in Australia’s capital cities in the week ending 19 February, marking it the first time the number of auctions had surpassed the 2,000 milestone in 2017.
According to CoreLogic’s Property Market Indicator Summary, there were 689 more properties put up for auction last week, up 43 per cent on the...

A Melbourne start-up is capitalising on our love affair with auctions by developing an app to enable consumers to watch auctions either live or on demand from anywhere in the world. A potential buyer can “virtually” attend dozens of auctions across several states over a weekend.
Click here...

WANT to know why it feels like you have a leaky wallet? A whopping 85 per cent of Aussie homeowners don’t know their interest rate yet 94 per cent know their mobile number.
Latest “Know your numbers” research by UBank has found homeowners could save tens of thousands of dollars if they reviewed their interest rates,...

A steady start to 2017. Despite the tumultuous political and economic landscape across the world, the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has elected to leave the cash rate on hold at the record low of 1.50%. Whilst the hold was widely predicted by economists, there is still a strong belief in the market that rates...

Ian Narev, CEO of the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, has said that the bank sees the mortgage broking industry as “an ongoing channel where customers are going to want to do business”.
The statement came following the bank’s end of year financial results, which revealed that brokers made up 49 per cent of new business in...

Refinancing your home? Or looking for the best possible home loan as a first-home buyer? When you’re hunting for a great mortgage deal, there are many options available.
Some people are happy to stick with the bank they know and trust, but for others, the value of being able to shop around and find a product...

RBA heading to 1% with chance of unconventional policy, NAB says
(Bloomberg) -- Australia’s central bank will cut interest rates to 1 percent within a year to combat weak inflation and rising unemployment and could then turn to unconventional monetary policy, according to Alan Oster, the chief economist at National Australia Bank Ltd.
Announcing updated rate forecasts...

Below is a list of which banks have announced rate cuts as 3rd August 2016
However, the lending market has become increasingly more complex, with some banks, not offering the same reductions for interest only loans.
For example, Westpac has announced a rate reduction of 0.14% effective from the 23/8/16 for its variable rate home loan. However,...

As you have probably have now heard, the RBA has reduced the official cash rate to 1.5%
As we started to see yesterday, many of the banks started to pass on this rate reduction. However, as sometimes occur the banks use this as an opportunity to improve their lending margins. How do they do this, well...

It’s not uncommon for investors who purchase existing properties to assume that any renovations which have taken place prior to settlement cannot be claimed.
Those who assume this couldn’t be more wrong. Deductions for income producing properties can be claimed in two ways; as capital works deductions for the building structure, and as plant and equipment...

Combined capital city home values have increased substantially since the financial crisis in 2008 however, this is largely being driven by Sydney and Melbourne with value growth muted in most other capital cities.
http://www.corelogic.com.au/news/home-value-growth-remains-all-about-sydney-and-melbourne?j=64020765&e=simon@helpcompare.com.au&l=7747959_HTML&u=560215043&mid=10873698&jb=85...

By Cameron Kusher on July 12, 2016 in Economics, Housing finance, Mortgage market, National Market, Research
Over the month there were $32.3 billion in housing finance commitments which is 1.0% higher over the past month. Although the value of housing finance commitments increased in May 2016, they are now -4.6% lower than their August 2015 peak...

When it comes to buying investment property, is rental yield the iron-clad indicator you can take to the bank? Or is it another statistic that can mislead or misrepresent the potential of a property?
If you’re looking for investment property, consider rental yield as one tool in your kit, albeit an important tool. It indicates the possible annual...

THERE are five things every mortgage customer should know about their home loan.
Despite the Reserve Bank of Australia keeping the cash rate on hold at 1.75 per cent today, all home loan customers should ensure they know the ins and outs of their mortgage and whether they are getting the best deal possible.
We’ve revealed the...

In the current housing tax debate a number of studies have come out arguing that while prices will fall (by varying amounts) rents will not be affected. That rents will be unaffected is surprising and (in my view) wrong.
Outside of the heat of an election, the Henry Tax Review’s comprehensive review of the tax system...

Granny flat growth in Australia is booming
A SURGE in granny flat construction in Australia is helping more than just grandparents.
Homeowners with backyards are using granny flats to keep adult kids at home, build man-caves and “she-sheds’ and to generate income by renting it to travellers.
Research by Gateway Credit Union has found that one-third of homeowners...

The Abbott Coalition government came to power two years ago this week with a promise to change Labor’s fibre to the premises (FTTP) National Broadband Network (NBN) to one using less-expensive fibre-to-the-node (FTTN) technologies, spruiking its network with the three-word slogan: “Fast. Affordable. Sooner.” Read on...

Running your own business isn’t easy. Fluctuating cash flow can affect even the best savings plan.
Unexpected business expenses may throw your budget into a tailspin. A workplace accident could wipe out your savings in a flash.
Brigid Holder should know. She was running two businesses – vegetation maintenance service Weedmasters, and a health and lifestyle coaching consultancy called Happy...

First-home buyers are getting a helping hand
Despite increasing house prices across Australia making it seemingly impossible for entry-level buyers to get into the property market, the number of first-home buyers continues to rise across the country. But they’re not doing it alone; many first-home buyers are getting a helping hand from mum and dad.
Parental Guarantee...

Home ownership is becoming a distant dream for a growing number of young buyers as price growth increasingly outstrips savings.
Over the past year, first-home buyers looking to purchase a property in Melbourne have had to put aside an extra $100 to $200 a week for a deposit as house prices have jumped by about 10...

Whether you’re looking to improve your property or reduce your mortgage repayments, refinancing may be an ideal strategy.
Your personal circumstances will change many times over your life, and as a result the mortgage that you have may no longer be the most appropriate.
Refinancing describes the process of changing from one home loan to another and...

Winter is here! Despite many Australians opting not to heat their homes to the point of complete comfort, many of us nevertheless will soon receive a nasty surprise when the energy bills arrive. Click here to read on.......

Investors, analysts and the leaders of Australia's largest listed real estate trusts all expect further investment in the listed property sector from overseas as the chase for yield enters a second stage and capitalisation rates show further tightening.
Speakingat Macquarie Group's annual equities conference in Sydney, where about 100 offshore investors were in attendance, Lendlease's newly...

Mortgage holders and first-timers on the cusp of buying a property are poised to be the biggest winners from the Reserve Bank’s decision to slash the cash rate to a record low of 1.75 per cent.
The drop of 25 basis points is the first change since the drop in May last year.
If the banks pass...

When Australia's Gold Coast was voted one of the top three places in the world to buy a second home in by the well-respected Knight Frank annual global The Wealth Report 2016, many onlookers were amazed. How could that strip of ritz and glitz along 57 kilometres of Queensland coastline possibly be in the same...

Homeowners and investors have avoided scrutiny in the Federal Budget, with tax changes for homes given a wide berth.
While superannuation cuts targeting high-income earners and small personal income cuts are on the cards, negative gearing and capital gains tax will not be touched by the government, Treasurer Scott Morrison confirmed in his Budget speech on...

House-hunting just got easier.
Australians can now look up prices of nearby properties through Facebook Messenger by chatting to a bot from property platform Domain.
Messengers bots were only introduced to Facebook last month but has since been taken up by the real-estate site, which has started connecting potential home-buyers with listings in their surrounding area.
Users can...

As she prepares for her wedding at the end of the year, Sydney resident Sarah Hemans admits she and her husband-to-be will face a grim reality: the battle to enter Australia's property market.
Ms Hemans, a 22-year-old university student, and her 24-year-old fiance are living in their respective parents' homes on opposite sides of the sprawling...

Australian private sector credit rose modestly in March, continuing the moderation in lending seen in recent months.
According to the Reserve Bank of Australia, credit grew by 0.4%, the weakest monthly increase recorded in over two years. It left the annual expansion at 6.4%, the slowest seen since August last year.
Read more....

Foreign investors are expected to push through deals for properties in the Australian state of Victoria before an increase in taxes on overseas nationals acquiring property in the region is introduced.
Officials in Victoria, Australia’s most densely populated state, announced yesterday (Wednesday 27 April) that it was more than doubling taxes on foreign property buyers from...

Aussies have some of the world's highest debt levels, and property prices are finally cooling. But investors fearing a U.S-style credit crisis needn't worry, according to a new report from HSBC.
As Canberra reoriented economic growth away from mining and towards services, a housing construction boom began, leading to a 30 percent increase in home prices...

SOUTH Australians looking to break into the property market have five thousand reasons to celebrate, as one of the state’s leading credit unions launches a grant to help.
Credit Union SA chief executive Grant Strawbridge said the customer-owned financial institution developed the $5000 grant to help South Australians achieve home ownership.
“This is the biggest purchase that...

Housing prices have continued to head higher, with prices rising in all capital cities except Hobart and Darwin.
April's rise came in at 1.7 per cent, on average, in the capitals, but the trend is slowing, according to CoreLogic RP Data's Home Value Index on Monday.
Read more....

More Australians than ever before intend to work beyond 70, as Generation X-ers and Baby Boomers fear they lack the financial security needed to retire any sooner.
The findings, which come as the Turnbull government weighs superannuation reform in the May budget, have sparked fresh concerns that a comfortable retirement is now "out of reach" for...

There are fears of an oversupply of apartments in Perth that could collapse prices and leave investors out of pocket, as the housing market slows and population growth tapers off.
Key points:
Spike in apartments due to be completed in Perth in next two years
Population growth has slowed to sluggish 1.3 per cent
Perth apartment prices lower than...

CHINESE-language property portal myfun.com has released its latest list of hot Australian suburbs with the family-friendly Melbourne neighbourhood of Glen Waverley taking out the top spot.
Victorian suburbs Doncaster and Box Hill rounded out the top three, but the remainder of the list is dominated by NSW addresses including Epping, Mosman and West Ryde.
Read more....

More lenders are likely to increase interest rates on their home loans, following in the steps of Bank of Queensland Limited (ASX: BOQ) earlier this week.
That’s despite the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) keeping the official cash rate on hold at 2% this week.
Bank of Queensland raised its standard variable rate by 12 basis points...

After a head spinning 2015, our property markets started 2016 with a bunch of mixed predictions.
Some called a property bubble, while others forecast lower, but continuing capital growth.
Well…the scorecard is in for the first quarter of the year and our property markets slipped down a gear according to Corelogic, with an annual price growth rate...

Chinese investment in Australian real estate has doubled.
Foreign appetite for Aussie homes, from all corners of the globe, has surged in the past financial year, with the value of proposed investment rocketing by more than 75 per cent.
The Foreign Investment Review Board annual report shows China remains by far the biggest foreign buyer of property,...

Australia’s housing price growth has slumped to its slowest pace in nearly three years, with capital city prices rising 6.4 per cent over the past 12 months.
Going against the trend was the depressed mining-dependent Perth market, which showed a 1.2 per cent bounce in house prices for the month of March, according to researcher RP...

Choosing to build wealth through residential real estate requires a significant investment.
And I’m not just talking about money, but the commitment of time and emotional energy that’s required as well.
In the beginning you’ll need to work hard to support the costs associated with property ownership, so it’s understandable that many people suffer buyer’s remorse after...

Almost two-thirds of Australians believe the next generation will never be able to afford their own home.
New research by MLC, part of National Australia Bank’s wealth management division, also found one third of parents are concerned their children will not enjoy the same standard of living as their own.
MLC’s chief executive, Andrew Hagger, said there...

A population explosion over the next 30 years will see residents in Western Australia’s South West rewrite the book on how they live and work.
WA futurist Gihan Perera says new technology, including driverless cars, shopping drones and 3D-printed houses will transform the lives of those living in one of Australia’s fastest growing regions.
Remote working and...

A Chinese company wanting to buy Australia's largest agricultural landholding says Australians have much to gain from foreign investment, and that the company's track record in New Zealand proves it.
Key points:
Key bidder in Kidman cattle sale moves to allay concerns about foreign investment
The Chinese company says it likes to work with local farmers and suppliers
It...

Australian homebuyer confidence has dropped for the first time since March 2014, according to the latest release of the Genworth Homebuyer Confidence Index (HCI).
The HCI, which is a measure of homeowner and non-property owner sentiment toward the housing and mortgage market, fell 1.4% to 98.2 in the March quarter. Genworth said the fall was driven...

There was a time when the great Australian dream was a family home on a quarter acre block. Now it seems the Aussie dream extends to a second home by the sea.
One study shows that 560,000 thousand Australians, or one in 40 of us already own a holiday home. Others put that number closer to a...

As people move to inner-city sites, in closer proximity to neighbours, creating privacy comes to the forefront of the minds of architects and their clients. However, not wanting to feel hemmed in, creating sight lines as well as screening devices becomes paramount.
"When you're coming up with screening solutions, the challenge is to make it appear...

Buying your first home can be an exhilarating and daunting experience. It’s one of the biggest financial commitments you’ll ever make. If you play your cards right, you’ll not only buy a home you can’t wait to live in, but a sound investment that brings you financial security.
Here are some helpful tips to start you...

The property market is an animal almost every central banker is worried about and hardly anyone can control.
As the Federal Reserve downshifts into go-slow mode while the European Central Bank and other monetary authorities ease, expect to hear a lot of concern about property prices.
Here's the dilemma: How do you cut rates to goose too-low...

NOW is a really good time to live in Brisbane.
It’s an even better time to own a house in Brisbane as it has just been dubbed the most stable city in Australia.
Brisbane’s average house prices have climbed again for its 14th quarter in a row.
A new report released by the Real Estate Institute of Queensland...

It’s not easy getting your foot into Sydney’s property market.
Since the GFC, median house prices in Sydney have been on an incredible trajectory growing four times faster than wages and five times the rate of inflation.
But if it’s any consolation for homebuyers, there have been signs of cooling with sentiment towards residential property throughout Australia...

Property inspection is unregulated in Australia. Becoming a property inspector, therefore, involves nothing more than calling oneself a property inspector. There are no training requirements, no necessary certifications, and no guarantee that individuals in the profession are qualified to be there. As a result, home buyers cannot assume that individuals who market themselves as property...

Global financial market jitters continue to drag on superannuation savings in Australia.
Market falls wiped 0.5 per cent off the average balanced super fund in February - the fifth month of falls in the 2016 financial year, according to superannuation research company SuperRatings.
The average balanced super fund - which is mostly made up of local and...

Australia's 25 years of sustained economic growth in a highly unpredictable and volatile global economic environment is truly remarkable and unprecedented at the world stage. The country's outstanding run, however, stands out alongside increased public concern that poverty has remained high and increasing, particularly for certain population groups.
The Poverty Report published in 2014 by the...

Housing construction in South Australia could fall by more than 10 per cent in the next financial year, a leading economic forecaster is predicting.
BIS Shrapnel is outlining its outlook for the economy at a conference in Adelaide today.
Managing director Robert Mellor predicts fewer houses will be built in SA but thinks the outlook for the...

Global property developers are circling in on the latest hot property market in Australia: student housing.
As the recent fall in the Australian dollar spurs foreign student numbers, companies from Dubai to China and South Africa are spending big on buying land or high-rise blocks that can be redeveloped to cater to students studying at universities.
Australia...

Half of Australia’s potential homebuyers are overestimating property prices in their capital city, according to a new survey by the Commonwealth Bank.
The survey revealed a tendency among homeowners to overvalue their properties, especially those who hailed from Sydney (57%), Brisbane (49%) and Adelaide (47%).
“Discussing the local property market is a national pastime but these results...

New home sales in Australia increased by 3.1% in January with detached properties leading the growth, according to the latest report from the Housing Industry Association.
Detached house sales were up by 5.8% while the sale of multi-units dropped by the same amount but there was quite considerable regional variation.
Detached house sales increased by 7.9% in...

Your home is probably the most expensive thing you’ll ever own, and that expense goes beyond the closing price. There’s the cost of the house, but then there are other ongoing and upfront expenses that can catch you off guard. Especially if you’re a first time buyer, it helps to know what you’re getting into.
Zillow...

Report after report demonstrates the decline in housing affordability across the country, so much so that some in the housing sector are calling the situation 'a national tragedy' and a 'social catastrophe'.
The Turnbull Government must respond to the issue of declining housing affordability, show some national leadership and work with the states and territories to...

FIRST-HOME buyers are used to getting plenty of advice. But those househunting tips from grandpa or Aunty Pat would have been great if you were buying real estate back in the 1980s — not in today’s hot market.
Industry insiders say a savvy first-timer should just smile and nod graciously when family and neighbours put forward...

The appeal of Australian real estate is spreading to the subcontinent, with super-rich Indians tipped to be the next trophy home buyers.
With India’s economic growth this year expected to surpass China’s, and its individual wealth increasing, local agents are forecasting cashed-up Indian buyers to come knocking, as they are in other countries.
Read more.
...

Australian auction clearance rates continued to slide last week.
According to preliminary data released by CoreLogic RP Data, of the 1,063 capital city auction results received so far, 716 properties were sold, equating to a clearance rate of 66.4%.
The figure was below the 68.6% level of the prior corresponding week, and well below the 77.2% level...

“They auction middle class property in Australia as if they were selling Picassos,” said hedge fund manager Jonathan Tepper recently, predicting Sydney and Melbourne house prices would soon plunge 50 per cent as Australia’s housing bubble — “one of the biggest in history” — popped.
His prediction that the Australian dollar would slump to US40c and...

Lured by lifestyle, a type of international buyer has emerged as a major player in Melbourne’s property market – the residential tourist.
Chinese offshore buyers who have not prioritised investment and love regular holidays in Australia are prominent among overseas-based house hunters, according to an RMIT study.
Their intentions are different to fellow international buyers who are...

PROPERTY price growth may be tipped to slow, but the industry still turns a huge profit.
New figures reveal the industry generated $8.6 billion in profit before taxable income in the December quarter alone.
By comparison at the same time Australia’s mining industry generated only $3.6 billion in taxable income.
The Australian Bureau of Statistic figures revealed that...

A new report on the housing affordability crisis in Sydney and Melbourne calls for the Federal Government to urgently rethink its support of negative gearing.
The report, Sydney and Melbourne's Housing Affordability Crisis – No End in Sight, was written by Dr Bob Birrell and David McCloskey from Monash University's Centre for Population and Urban Research.
Key...

Auction clearance rates for the weekend suggest the property market doesn’t care much about reputations of those that might disparage it.
According to CoreLogic RP Data, clearance rates have returned to normal levels, with Victoria seeing a rate of 71% and New South Wales 69% from 1,218 and 684 scheduled auctions respectively.
Domain senior economist Andrew Wilson...

The surge in Australian house prices over the past 2 decades, and the stunning acceleration in Sydney in particular in the past couple of years, has made it difficult for many young Australians who want to buy their first home to enter the market.
But in an incredible paradox it’s this very acceleration of high prices...

Southern suburbs becoming popular with prestige buyers
Sydney’s second city centre spurs demand
Lewisham prices soar as buyers like being well connected
When it comes to Sydney’s residential property market, the word on everybody’s lips this year is stable.
Agents and commentators alike are anticipating a year in which stories of extreme price hikes take on folkloric dimensions, replaced...

A vital shift in Australians' spending habits heralds a downturn in the property market, a global card payments giant has warned.
Analysts at MasterCard say a marked slowdown in expenditure on household goods such as hardware, furnishings and appliances points to softer conditions ahead for Australia's housing sector.
Read more....

Katrina Parker and Rick Wilson have been living rent-free for about eight months.
They have moved house seven times, packing and transporting their belongings in storage containers. The reason: they are saving for their first home.
The couple, both in their late 20s, have tried out a range of properties across Melbourne, from a one-bedroom apartment in Northcote to a three-bedroom house in Belgrave.
Read...

Middle-ring Brisbane and Adelaide suburbs near popular schools are the new property investing "hotspots" offering potential income growth and capital gains, say property specialists who advise high-net-worth investors.
Melbourne and Sydney, which have posted solid gains during the past two years, will slow while prices and rents in former mining boom towns Perth and Darwin will...

Contrarian economist Jonathan Tepper this week re-ignited an age-old debate about whether we are in a property bubble, after raising the alarm bell about Australian house prices.
He pointed to data including a surge in household debt, a boom in interest-only lending, and much higher house price to income ratios, and predicted a plunge of up...

Almost half of all Australians fear they will not have enough money for a comfortable lifestyle when they retire, a survey has found.
The Australian National University (ANU) poll also found many people were concerned about becoming a burden on their family when they are older.
The ANU poll Ageing and Money surveyed 1,200 people over the...

Changing economic conditions at home and abroad will result in an increase in the number of Australian mortgage delinquencies in the coming year according to one credit rating firm.
According to the latest monthly review of the performance of Australian prime residential mortgages by ratings firm Moody’s, delinquencies in excess of 30 days rose to 1.20%...

In the years after the GFC and as the mining boom peaked, then-treasurer Wayne Swan was fond of referring to the “patchwork” nature of the Australian economy.
There were also frequent references back then to the “two-speed economy” as activity in WA and Queensland accelerated, creating swathes of jobs and triggering surges in wages and property...

LIVE at home as long as you can, buy a property before starting a family, live within your means and don’t worry about needing a 20 per cent deposit.
He’s only 24 but Aron Cardona knows what he’s talking about. The Prospect resident has already bought a unit and helped hundreds of other first-home buyers crack...

A Reserve Bank official has refused to comment about any alleged manipulation of the rate at which banks lend money to each other, but says markets need to have confidence in their integrity.
RBA assistant governor for financial markets Guy Debelle wouldn't to be drawn on the Australian Securities and Investments Commission's three-year investigation into alleged...

For those excited by the prospect of snagging a Sydney home for half price following predictions of a home loan crisis and a plunge in property values, don’t get your hopes up.
A US-based researcher’s predictions that we will witness up to 50 per cent price drops across Australia are “outrageous” and “not going to happen”,...

A top-rate taxpayer with two investment properties would be about $19,000 a year worse off under the Labor Party's plans to limit negative gearing. Does that mean property investors should be running for the hills, or that potential investors should buy before the changes?
No, because it's been suggested any changes would be "grandfathered", meaning investments...

LANDLORDS warn they will hike up rents if negative gearing is scaled back.
Labor Party leader Bill Shorten announced Saturday a proposal to limit negative gearing to new housing from July 2017, but property experts have slammed the proposed changes, arguing they will drive a spike in rents and, possibly, home prices.
Founder of the Binvested Group...

First home buyers may think cooling house prices could provide an opportunity to crack into the property market this year, but the picture could be bleaker than before.
A typical house in Melbourne priced at $628,104 a year ago now costs $719,486, and Sydney’s median house price also soared $130,000 in 2015.
The general consensus is that house prices in the...

A majority of agents believe the government should be doing more to help first home buyers, with stamp duty relief the favoured option.
According to a recent REB poll, 53.8 per cent of respondents said stamp duty relief was the type of assistance they would most like first home buyers to receive.
Another 15.1 per cent called...

Housing affordability is a topic that is being discussed more and more due to the substantial increase in home values at a time when household incomes are hardly moving. While there are many studies outlining affordability based on measures like dwelling price to income ratio’s, the proportion of household income it takes to service the...

Labor has promised to end negative gearing on existing homes and cut capital gains tax concessions if it wins the next election.
Labor says the changes would raise $32bn over a decade, help make housing more affordable and generate construction industry jobs.
As Malcolm Turnbull’s government struggles to develop a tax plan and abandons the idea of...

At 12.51am on Tuesday, the estimated population of Australia as measured on the population clock passes 24 million.
It is interesting to note just how quickly we have reached 24 million given previous expectations.
The population clock was unveiled in the latter half of 1999 by Minister Hockey when the population hit 19 million, and at that...

A decline in property investment and foreign buyer activity is expected to reduce house price growth to just 1 per cent over the next two years.
Key points
NAB predicts house price growth of 1 per cent nationally this year
Unit prices expected to fall 1.2 per cent this year
Foreign buyers and local investors make up a falling...

Home ownership was in sight for Melbourne couple James and Monica Meldrum, who had saved a healthy deposit of $100,000.
But the couple put their great Australian dream on hold and used the cash to pursue a business idea in a move some family and friends thought was crazy.
It's always terrifying, but not going ahead with...

Housing auction clearance rates bounced back strongly last week, but the overhang of supply in Sydney, Perth and Darwin continued to build.
The proportion of homes being sold after being put up for auction last week in the state and territory capitals was 71.0 per cent, compared with 67.3 per cent in the same week of...

Surging house prices in Sydney and Melbourne have helped keep Australia near the top of an annual list of the world's least affordable countries.
Key points:
The typical Australian house costs 5.6 times the median household income
Only Hong Kong (19) is less affordable; with New Zealand (5.2) and the UK (5.1) close behind Australia
Sydney is the second...

A new app is launching in Australia that will take a few cents here and a few dollars there and invest it in exchange traded funds on your behalf.
I had coffee recently with George Lucas.
No, not that George Lucas. My coffee was with the managing director of Acorns Grow Australia.
He wanted to tell me about...

A slowdown in property prices in Australia is unhelpful for investors but good news for migrants.
For those seeking to live and work in Australia rising property prices have been unwelcome but the market is changing fast and the slowdown means affordable housing will become more widely available in 2016, industry analysts say.
Only 15 out of...

As Sydney’s boom ends, other locations around Australia are stepping up as locations poised for price growth. Success in property investing will depend, as always, on buying in the right places.
But there are a number of key steps investors need to take before considering where they might buy in 2016. Here’s my five-step process to...

Open homes are a chance for buyers to look through a property to see if it is suitable, but they’re also a chance for savvy sellers to hide the unsavoury features in their residence.
Buyers may initially look around open homes to get an idea of how they feel about the property, but they should also...

In the ongoing debate over Australia’s ‘housing bubble’, the annual Demographia International Housing Affordability Survey causes plenty of arguments and a few burst blood vessels.
The survey looks at cities around the developed world through the lens of the ‘median multiple’ – that is, the median dwelling price divided by the median income in that area.
Critics argue...

Selling a property is usually a stressful enough time in someone’s life, but when you’re selling a tenant’s home it can be even more difficult.
While many agents prefer to sell a property with vacant possession, without a tenant, some renters can benefit your sales campaign, Xenia Ioannou​, principal of Alexa Property Group said.
“Some tenants are...

With at least $30 billion worth of commercial real estate deals predicted to change hands in Australia this year alongside the billions of dollars worth of residential property, The Australian Financial Review has charted the top six areas for this year's market, guided by the big successes of 2015.
1. WATCH THE OLD HANDS
It is hard...

Brisbane property experts share their top suburbs for investment success in 2016.
By Dinah Lewis Boucher
If Brisbane has hit your radar as the next capital city market in which to invest, you may be interested in which suburbs local property experts are earmarking as their top picks. Armed with different investor budgets, they’ve picked something on...

WO states dominate the list of suburbs for investors to keep an eye on in 2016.
Suburbs in Western Australia and South Australia have been labelled by realestate.com.au as the best affordable suburbs to invest based on their strong compound annual growth in 2015.
South Australia’s Mansfield Park topped the list of suburbs for three-bedroom homes less...

IT’S a sale of two cities. Our property prices versus the globe.
Real estate in Aussie capitals is often labelled as the most expensive in the world and while sunny Sydney has a median house price of $850,000 - or about $1 million in the central suburbs - some of our other cities appear more tame...

Australians have started 2016 with a more positive outlook on the nation’s housing market according to research released yesterday.
Results from the January Westpac-Melbourne Institute Survey of Consumer Sentiment have revealed more people think now is a better time to buy a house than any time since midway through 2015.
The Time to buy a dwelling index...

Most Australians think their home is worth more off the back of last year’s property “boom”, despite price gains in 2015 largely being concentrated to the Sydney and Melbourne markets and clear signs that growth had cooled by the end of 2015.
A survey of 2000 homeowners by law firm Slater and Gordon found 78 per...

As a sixth generation Australian, I’m truly blessed my forefathers chose to call Australia home.
It’s a wonderful country.
For me, every day is Australia Day.
Our country is on the must see list of most travellers.
Whenever you travel overseas, people invariably say ‘I would love to come to Australia one day. I hear it has such beautiful...

Surging house prices in Sydney and Melbourne have helped keep Australia near the top of an annual list of the world's least affordable countries.
Key points:
The typical Australian house costs 5.6 times the median household income
Only Hong Kong (19) is less affordable; with New Zealand (5.2) and the UK (5.1) close behind Australia
Sydney is the second...

With the increase in bank mortgage rates late last year, combined with the shaky economic start to 2016, there has never been a better time for Aussies to starting things about how to pay off their mortgage earlier.
Not only would you make more savings, but the opportunity to pay off a mortgage early also frees...

(The following statement was released by the rating agency) SYDNEY/SINGAPORE, January 13 (Fitch) House prices in several Asia-Pacific (APAC) markets are likely to slow down or decline in 2016 owing to low affordability, exposure to US rate hikes, and prudential regulations, says Fitch Ratings. The pace of house-price growth should decelerate particularly sharply in Australia...

Nearly one out of five new home loans taken in December were capped at fixed rates, as Australian borrowers worry of further interest rate rises to their mortgage in 2016.
New data from Mortgage Choice found 19.44 per cent of all loans that were given by lenders during December were fixed-rate products, rising from 17.4 per cent...

HOBART, you’re giving the rest of us financial envy.
Across our wide, brown land there are now 513 suburbs with a median house or unit price of $1 million (or way more) and every capital city is on the list — except the capital of our Apple Isle.
Hobart ticks a lot of the same boxes as...

With at least $30 billion worth of commercial real estate deals predicted to change hands in Australia this year alongside the billions of dollars worth of residential property, The Australian Financial Review has charted the top six areas for this year's market, guided by the big successes of 2015.
1. WATCH THE OLD HANDS
It is hard...

PERTH home sellers are turning to Sundays and weekday evenings as a secret auction weapon in a slowing property market.
While Saturday has traditionally been WA’s busiest day for auctions, vendors are now experimenting, putting homes under the hammer on Sundays, and even Wednesday and Tuesday evenings.
Figures from CoreLogic RP data show a spike in the...

TV personality and professional buyer’s advocate, Frank Valentic, has three golden rules for buying real estate: “location, location, location”.
“You can change the house, but you can’t change its location,” he says. “It’s not something you want to get wrong.”
Valentic, who is a regular judge and buyer’s advocate on the hit TV seriesThe Block, advises buyers...

Families from southern capitals are looking to the north for a better quality lifestyle at an affordable price, with median prices in Sydney up to 75 per cent higher than the median price in Brisbane, according to the latest Corelogic figures.
Corelogic data released in November showed the gap between the median house price in Sydney...

I was recently rung by a journalist from one of the major daily news sites asking me for my predictions on the property hot spots for 2016.
Apparently an article that he wrote two years ago predicting the hotspots for the coming year was one of the most popular on their website, and now coming to...

Australia is in the midst of an unprecedented high rise residential construction boom.
The skylines of Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane – the three main capitals along Australia’s eastern seaboard – are currently littered with cranes, particularly in inner city locations.
While residential construction is taking off, the increase in new apartments has lead to a slowdown in...

Restrictions on bank lending are having an impact on the market, as is continued speculation of a property market bubble, so property buyers need to be astute in 2016.
Buying a property is one of the biggest purchases most people are likely to make and many still view property as the key vehicle for their retirement savings nest-egg. For savvy...

So, you are in the market for a new home and that faux Tudor castle has caught your eye?
The quaint 1850s sandstone church down the road also has potential.
Australia has plenty of unique homes to choose from, whether it’s a bold design from one of the country’s distinguished architects, a house built in the shape...

THEY’RE worth millions, have enviable postcodes and have just become the new dream homes of some cashed-up Australians.
Realestate.com.au has released its list of Australia’s priciest homes of 2015, featuring mainly Sydney suburbs with harbour views and water frontage.
Mandalay in Sydney’s Point Piper, which sold to road construction developer Phillip Dong Fang Lee and his wife...

SYDNEY (BLOOMBERG) - Australia's three-year property boom is leaving Melbourne awash with empty homes.
In the country's second-biggest city, growing numbers of local landlords and absent overseas owners have locked up their properties - forgoing rental income as they focus instead on price gains, a report by Prosper Australia said on Wednesday (Dec 9).
Some 82,724 properties, or...

THIS is Australia’s most popular property.
Realestate.com.au has crunched the numbers and found out which properties were the most viewed in Australia this year.
More than 190,000 people might not have been able to afford it, but they clicked on the realestate.com.au listing for the home to take a look inside 3 Barooga Drive, at Wonga Park...

As 2015 comes to an end – which was a bumper of a year for real estate sales – everyone from property punters to economists are placing their bets on where prices will go in the New Year.
Now it’s my turn to throw my hat in the ring. But the answer isn’t a one size...

Australian millenials may soon need to abandon the long-cherished dream of occupying their own detached, single-family dwelling on a quarter acre block.
Profound changes to urban environments and economic conditions are sadly making such residential property aspirations a thing of the past.
According to Craig Yelland, director of Plus Architecture, projected growth in Australia's city-dwelling populations will...

Australia’s residential construction boom, fuelled largely by enormous growth in high rise apartment construction favoured by offshore investors, may be leaving Melbourne with a raft of vacant properties.
That’s the findings from Prosper Australia, a Melbourne-based research-based organisation seeking to advance economic efficiency and social justice through tax reform and education according to its website, who...

IT’S an article of faith — pick the right time of year to buy or sell and you can save (or make) a whole lot more on property.
The only problem? Knowing the right time.
That is no longer an issue, thanks to new research by economics and finance gurus from Swinburne, Griffith and Monash universities.
Analysing 20...

Australia’s unemployment rate has remained relatively stable over the past 12 months, decreasing to 6.1 per cent to 6.2 per cent, according to data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
In some areas of the country, unemployment rates are as high as 61 per cent, a huge 10 times higher than the national average.
Queensland is home...

The housing market continues to show signs of cooling with the second successive month of falling housing finance and a dramatic decline in investor lending.
Overall housing related lending fell 2 per cent in October and the annual growth eased back to 8.4 per cent.
However investor lending tumbled 6.2 per cent for the month and is...

Australia is headed towards recession, according to former Greek finance minister Yanis Varoufakis, who argues that weak domestic investment and the slowdown in China will ultimately put the brakes on growth.
Speaking to Fairfax Media on Monday, the one-time Sydney University economics lecturer said China was crucial to Australia's fortunes, but the world's second-biggest economy was...

The Reserve Bank has decided to keep interest rates on hold at 2.0 per cent for a sixth consecutive month at its last board meeting of the year.
Following the RBA’s previous announcement to leave the cash rate unchanged at its November board meeting, academics and economists predicted there would be no movement in the cash...

Lead-up to Christmas is a good time to buy properties with owners hoping to offload before the holiday period
Appealing suburbs to buy in include Mosman, Balmain East, Strathfield, Marrickville, Leichhardt and Annandale
Central suburbs Glebe, Darlinghurst and Woolloomooloo are also favourable suburbs to buy in
Prospectives buyers who are worried they've left it too late to make...

House prices in Australia are continuing to show signs of cooling, as out-of-cycle rate hikes from the big four banks and a regulator crackdown on loose lending start to curb the speculative property bubble in the major cities.
Property prices slipped in five of the eight Australian capitals, which dragged the combined capital cities price index...

Time has run out for foreign buyers who illegally own Australian real estate.
In May 2015, the government announced an amnesty of sorts for foreign investors who had breached Australia’s residential property rules.
Foreigners who illegally acquired an Australian home had seven months – until December 1 – to voluntarily come forward and disclose ownership.
In return, foreign...

FIRST there was the guy who raised $55,492 to make potato salad, and then the man who gathered up a collective $3650 to fix his broken front tooth. But now crowd-funding just got serious.
Singaporean-based crowd-funding firm, CoAssets, is heading down under in a bid to help financially-challenged househunters invest in real estate with as little...

Few older Australians actually live in non-private housing such as nursing homes. Data from the 2011 Census reveals that 94% of Australians who are 65 or older still live in private housing. More than half live with a partner and another quarter live alone.
Life expectancy is nearly double what it was a century ago. And...

The major cities of Australia and New Zealand are experiencing an extraordinary wave of speculation in their respective real estate markets. Over the past three years, the median house price to median income ratio has increased by 21.2% in Australia and 18.1% in New Zealand, a rate reminiscent of Ireland’s 20.5% before its housing crash...

Western Australia has more suburbs in the top ten list of buyer’s markets close to the CBD than anywhere else in Australia.
Buyer’s markets are suburbs where properties sit on the market for a long time, there are fewer people looking for properties and sellers are more willing to sell at a discounted sale price.
While it...

S Kidman & Co has pastoral leases in several states that together cover about 101,000 square kilometres - an area roughly the size of the North Island excluding Northland.
Two Chinese companies, Genius Link Group and Shanghai Pengxin, were reportedly engaged in a $A350m ($NZ384m) bidding war over the holdings.
Selling the company would be against the...

Is Australia’s property market really a precarious house of cards waiting to topple?
There’s a property debate raging at present – some say the future for property is bright while others suggest our markets are set to crash.
After a number of boom years, especially in the Sydney and Melbourne property markets, we’ve entered a more mature...

CHINESE buyers have deserted Melbourne’s prestige property market following the Australian Government’s crackdown on foreign homeowners, buyer advocates say.
Experts tip the exodus could cause sale prices of high-end properties to dip, particularly in the Stonnington and Boroondara areas.
But real estate agents who work in the sector say they’re yet to see a drop in values.
Treasurer...

Investors are cashing in on the increasing demand for commercial real estate, with vendors selling their properties well over reserve.
Raine & Horne executive chairman Angus Raine said commercial assets priced between $1 million and $3 million are increasingly popular with yield-hungry, self-managed super fund trustees, which is paying off for vendors.
“Low cash rates are also...

A growing band of Australians are ditching the idea of a big home and mortgage for something smaller and more affordable known as a Tiny House.
It is a global movement that took prominence after 2005's Hurricane Katrina in the USA when so many people lost their homes.
Now it is making inroads in Australia.
The pint-sized homes...

There is a lot of hype about the flood of household battery options to store rooftop solar power that are hitting the Australian market - but do they make financial sense for a family home?
A new assessment by the Alternative Technology Association says not yet. But by 2020, for some households around the country, they...

Self-managed superannuation fund trustees have been warned against making big bets on residential property.
With many SMSF trustees are already invested in residential property outside their super fund, there is an argument against directing a large part of their super to housing as well, AMP Capital portfolio manager Christopher Davitt and AMP chief economist Shane Oliver...

Record low interest rates and greater housing construction are driving up the price of Australian pine trees, according to Australia's largest forestry investment company.
A new report released by the Federal Government indicates Australia's housing construction is up 17 per cent, and general log harvesting is up eight per cent to 27 million metric tonnes.
Read more.
...

With an estimated 1700 people classified as ultra high net worth individuals currently living in Australia, almost half of whom live in Sydney, it is unsurprising that six of the top 10 richest postcodes in the country are in NSW.
According to the latest data from the ATO, Australia’s richest people live in Sydney’s eastern suburbs,...

Australia's biggest 'boom' suburbs have been revealed, with some owners who snapped up property in these postcodes having seen the price of their home more than triple is just years.
Skyrocketing prices in many suburbs are the result of growing gentrification across Australia's most popular cities of Sydney and Melbourne, according to real estate experts Domain.
In...

The head of a major real estate franchise believes concerns about property markets in Australia are somewhat overblown.
Angus Raine, executive chairman of Raine & Horne, said the idea of markets such as Sydney being in trouble is far from the truth.
“Real estate markets in Sydney are returning to a more normal market where we might...

Real estate agents are reporting signs of growing Chinese interest in Canberra's property market.
Sydney and Melbourne have seen a boom in Chinese investment over recent years.
But real estate companies have described a recent growth in interest from wealthy Chinese buyers in Canberra suburbs such as Gungahlin and Lawson.
Read more....

CHINESE buyers have flooded billions into the Australian property market, but a new report suggests that demand could finally be falling.
Analysts from investment bank Credit Suisse said in a report this week “anecdotal evidence” suggested demand could slow by as much as 30 per cent in the year to December.
The report blamed the slowdown on...

Sydney’s home auction clearance rate crashed below 60 per cent at the weekend, reflecting the effect on buyer confidence of recent rises in home mortgage rates.
Just 59.2 per cent cleared on Saturday, well down on the previous weekend’s 63.3 per cent and significantly below last year.
There will be no relief for the market this year,...

MY MATE is a brilliant engineer. He’s got a good job but he wants to get rich. The other night as we stood round at a barbecue, he was telling me about his plan to buy another house — or maybe a flat — in the suburb he lives in.
I smiled and said ‘awesome!’ But...

Australia is tipped to undergo a solar power revolution, with experts saying it could soon be cheaper to generate a home's electricity using solar energy than via the traditional grid.
A report by Climate Council, a non-government organisation, found that by 2018, using solar panels with new efficient batteries could make it cheaper to produce home-made...

Perth’s property market has hit a bleak milestone — its sharpest quarterly price drop on record.
But WA’s leading real estate group says discounts could be short-lived, predicting an end to falling prices within six months.
Real Estate Institute of WA figures show Perth’s median house price fell from $545,000 in June to $522,133 last month —...

Australia's housing construction boom looks to be over, with approvals for new homes managing only a slight rise in September.
Approvals were up by 2.2 per cent during the month, which was better than market expectations of a one per cent rise.
Over the year to September, approvals rose 21.4 per cent, the Australian Bureau of Statistics...

Having your finances in order is becoming even more important, if the results of a recent survey of property investors are anything to go by.
The results of the 2015 property investment Professionals of Australia (PIPA) Annual Investor Sentiment Survey were released this week, and nearly a third of the more than 1000 respondents said securing...

New forecasts by the National Australia Bank (NAB) have discovered that despite the national housing market losing steam, some individual states are posting respectable price growths.
Alan Oster, chief economist for the NAB Group, noted that the overall national figures obscured some of the more positive individual performances across individual state markets.
NAB Economics estimated that the...

Backyards will soon be unattainable for the majority of children born in Sydney and Melbourne, according to an explosive new report which blames a buildup in the number of largely-empty houses occupied by Australians over the age of 50.
The report by academics Bob Birrell and David McCloskey from the Australian Population Research Institute finds Sydney...

The work of a largely forgotten architect demonstrates that density doesn’t have to come at the price of amenity.
Louis Sauer: The Architect of Low-rise High-density Housing (Lulu, 2014)
The concept of “low-rise, high-density” housing is one the public doesn’t often get exposed to in contemporary Australia. The two main modes of housing supplied to the market...

ANZ has joined its rivals in raising interest rates for home owners to help cover the costs of boosting their protection against potential economic shocks.
The bank will raise its standard variable interest rates for owner-occupiers and investors by 0.18 percentage points to 5.56%.
The bank said it faced significant additional costs due to the new levels...

Chinese investors being offered zero-deposit home loans over Australian apartments will be charged credit card interest rates, raising fears of increased offshore speculation in the already heady property market.
The privately owned Ping An Insurance, which is offering the zero-deposit home loans, will charge clients an annual interest rate of 14 per cent.
Eddie Yuen, the Shanghai-based...

A home on the water’s edge has long been considered the ultimate prize by Australians but increasingly it’s being sought after by those from foreign shores.
From the mega mansions on Sydney harbour to an $11 million prize on Victoria’s coastline, the plunge of the Australian dollar has recently made the idea even more desirable.
Read more....

The Sydney and Melbourne property markets are showing signs of cooling off, with auction clearance rates dropping over the past week.
Auction clearance rates in Sydney fell to 65.1% over the past week, the lowest in three years, with 530 out of 874 listed properties selling. Clearance rates in Melbourne were 73%, with 957 sales out...

“Location location location”- a common saying used to express a tightly held belief that home buyers’ top attribute for a home was suburb. New research from Finder.com.au, however, has challenged this popular perception.
Read more....

Home buyers have taken a shine to Australia’s first solar suburb with hundreds of bidders competing for 40 blocks in Denman’s first land sale.
Some snapped up two and three blocks each at the sell-out auction in front of a 500-strong crowd at the Canberra Convention Centre. There were 250 registered bidders with final prices ranging from $410,000 to...

Ever wanted to live in another era? Amazing time-capsule home reverse-restored to reflect Australian life as it was 161 years ago goes on sale
The home, built in 1854, is to go up for auction in November
Located in St Kilda, Melbourne, the house is one of the city's oldest
The present owners undertook a restoration project when...

The housing construction boom hasn't yet run out of steam and completions of new homes are likely to peak early next year, before following the approvals rate lower, the Property Council of Australia says.
Completions, which jumped 19 per cent to 189,239 in the year to June as new housing starts also rose to a record, will keep...

House price growth in Melbourne is tipped to outperform Sydney next year while Perth and Darwin property markets are expected to go backwards.
The latest SQM Research shows that, overall, Australian residential property prices in 2016 are predicted to rise at their slowest pace since 2012.
Read more:...

IF YOU’RE on the lookout for the ultimate renovators delight these are the homes for you. And they are all priced less than $50,000.
This derelict house at lot 14 Warrie St, Gulargambone about 500km north west of Sydney is listed for just $20,000.
It may need a little more than a paint and clean up, but...

There is a strong need for certainty in retirement policy, a far-reaching review of the system and recommendations for reform that are outside of previous policy considerations.
The inexorable march of time, Australia’s ageing population and the critical need for government to provide policy certainty mean the issues around retirement can’t be ignored any longer. It’s...

If you own property from which you receive rental income, you should be thinking of yourself as a small business owner.
That rule doesn’t just apply to property investors who run a large portfolio as a full-time source of income. The scale might be different but it still applies if you’ve just inherited nana’s bungalow and...

Home loans to owner-occupiers are accelerating at the same time as lending to property investors eases off.
The Bureau of Statistics housing finance data for August show the value of loan approvals for owner-occupiers grew 6.1 per cent over the month, while the value of loans to investors fell 0.4 per cent.
Excluding refinancing, owner-occupier lending jumped...

The announcement of Tesla’s Powerwall recently made waves for its huge potential to change the way we use — and generate — electricity, but did you know that Australian consumers have already started changing the power dynamic?
Individual households are quickly becoming one of the biggest disruptors in Australia’s electricity network.
In September it was revealed that...

With different parts of the country experiencing varied rates of capital growth, we embarked on some research to assess what people's priorities were in different postcodes. The results make for very interesting reading.
Increasingly we knew from our branches that the different aspects of property – loans, equity, investing, renovating, construction, etc – all added up...

For anyone who has a passing interest in economic matters it is no real surprise that Australia ranks so highly in unaffordability for the homebuyer.
As a highly urbanised society our housing indeed ranks amongst the most expensive in the world, but just how high?
Utilising survey data from the 11th Annual Demographia International Affordability Survey: 2015...

SYDNEY—Australia’s central bank left interest rates unchanged at its monthly policy meeting Tuesday, waiting to see whether the falling Australian dollar and a change of prime minister can do the heavy lifting in reviving the nation’s economy.
The Reserve Bank of Australia left its cash rate target at a record low 2.0%, where it has remained...

Analysis by CBRE shows that foreign investors accounted for 56% of the $8.6 billion worth of commercial sales in the September quarter. That is the highest proportion of sales to offshore buyers in the 10 years the figures have been tracked.
The level of overseas purchasing activity had pushed total sales in the quarter 8.5% higher...

IT’S the great Australian property myth. When it comes to real estate prices, the only way is up.
Well, that might be true of just about any capital city, but step out of the big smoke and there are still spots across the country where selling your home for less than you paid for it is...

Capital city home values have grown 0.9 per cent, led by a 2.4 per cent surge in Melbourne.
September's rise in home values, reported by CoreLogic RP Data, pushed the annual rate of home price inflation to 11 per cent across the eight state and territory capitals.
That is up from 10.2 per cent in the year...

The year-over-year rise in the price of Canada's housing in the second quarter of 2015 is one of the highest in the developed world, largely because of low interest rates, according to a report from Scotiabank.
At 8.3 per cent, it lags markets such as Ireland (13.3 per cent) or Sweden (10.1 per cent), but is...

Sky-high prices are making residential property a tougher proposition for investors, especially self-managed superannuation funds. From here, the market could turn any of three different ways.
Australia’s housing market has made a habit of defying financial gravity. While property prices in the US, UK and other developed countries have cycled between boom and bust, in Australia...

The property that's been on the market for FOUR years - even after the owners slashed the asking price by 30 per cent. A South Australian property with the longest days on the market has been available for an outrageous four years. The home, at two Rankine Street in Strathalbyn has been discounted by 30 per cent...

In September 2008, a helicopter crashed and burst into flames in the Irish seaside town where I grew up.
It was news to me that there was a helicopter in the neighbourhood, let alone learning that it crashed and exploded. As kids, we’d never seen choppers in the area. It was a village north of Dublin...

House prices surged further in the June quarter, though growth was concentrated almost entirely in Sydney and Melbourne -- which highlights the growing risks in Australia’s biggest asset class. Nationally, the house price-to-income ratio reached a new high, reflecting lower interest rates and elevated investor activity.
The current scenario appears unsustainable unless income growth picks up,...

Australian housing sector has "peaked", increasing the risk of recession, according to new report.
Analysts at investment bank Morgan Stanley said lower migration rates, tighter financial lending rules and over-supply would blunt housing growth.
Australia's official cash rate is a record low 2% but regulators recently tightened lending rules for investors.
Read more....

The housing market is beginning to cool as new dwellings going on sale help moderate prices, despite investors representing 40% of all new home loans, the federal Treasury has said.
On Friday parliamentarians quizzed Treasury officials about housing affordability.
Read more....

Don’t let the Point Piper address or the enviable property portfolio dissuade you – Malcolm Turnbull’s rise to Prime Minister is one of the best steps towards putting housing affordability on the national agenda.
The leadership change will challenge the argument pushed by key members of the Liberal Party that nothing is wrong with house prices.
Read...

A slowdown in population growth, due mainly to a fall in immigration to Australia, will pose further challenges to economic growth and the housing market.
The latest Bureau of Statistics estimates, released today, reveal the nation's population grew to 23.7 million by the end of March, up by around 316,000 people, or 1.4 per cent, on...

CANBERRA, Australia—A government clampdown on illegal investment in Australian real estate has broadened, with almost 500 properties worth more than 1 billion Australian dollars (US$713 million) in total under investigation and more foreign buyers forced to sell properties.
The government has been under pressure to rein in an investment-driven surge in home prices in Australia’s two...

Foreign investors have turned especially bearish on the Australian economy, with one describing it as "toast", a National Australia Bank report says.
Chief economist Ivan Colhoun said a recent visit to clients in Britain, continental Europe and the Middle East revealed a "uniformly negative view on Australia's prospects".
"I have never experienced such overwhelming negativity on the...

A home-building frenzy that is shoring up Australia's economy as the mining boom ends may also be what finally takes the steam out of one of the world's most expensive property markets.
The case in point: Green Square.
Nearly 10,000 apartments will be built in one of Sydney's newest suburbs in the next four years to satisfy...

The residential property price boom gripping Sydney and Melbourne is sweeping several other markets in Europe, North America and Asia, according to Global Property Guide.
In its global survey of housing markets for the second quarter of 2015, the guide identified Hong Kong, Ireland, Estonia (Tallinn), Philippines (Manila) and Iceland as the top five for year-on-year...

Australian regions suffering from the resources downturn are seeing increased mortgage delinquency rates as more residents of once-booming mining town fail to repay loans.
Global ratings agency Moody’s said today that, excluding the New South Wales hot property market, mortgage delinquencies across Australia increased over the year through to May, despite two Reserve Bank interest rate...

A home-building frenzy that is shoring up Australia's economy as the mining boom ends may also be what finally takes the steam out of one of the world's most expensive property markets.
The case in point: Green Square. Nearly 10,000 apartments will be built in one of Sydney's newest suburbs in the next four years to...

The scale of Chinese investment in the Australian residential property market continues to polarise public opinion. Chinese buyers are often blamed for driving up house prices in Australia and causing the current affordability crisis.
However, Chinese offshore purchases are surprisingly low. Based on Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) approval figures, ABS data, and our own data...

Demand for Australian investor visas has slowed to a trickle following a government decision to follow Canada and the UK in tightening rules on fast-track residency in return for investment.
The changes were introduced in July following a surge in applications from wealthy Chinese and suspension of a scheme Canberra argued was not generating enough return...

f house prices are anything to go by in the Rugby World Cup, Australia will be the nation most likely to take home the coveted Webb Ellis trophy, leaving New Zealand and England in its wake.
Global real estate group CBRE has charted the average house price of the twenty rugby-playing nations and Australia is on...

Even as global investors queue eagerly to get their hands on Australian real estate, one astute investor, Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund GIC Pte Ltd, has been quietly taking profits and selling down its Australian holdings.
GIC has sold its five-star hotels, an industrial portfolio, an office building and a key stake in GPT Group, one of...

he lower Australian dollar makes property cheaper for foreign buyers and could increase the bubble prices being paid for apartments in areas of Sydney and Melbourne.
The dollar sank below US70¢ on Wednesday, for the first time since April 2009, and Deutsche Bank chief economist Adam Boyton​ predicts the dollar will keep falling to US60¢ by...

The sorts of influences that dictate your chances of selling the average house – such as interest rates – don’t apply so much to prestige property.
It’s other issues, like the lower Australian dollar. “Anywhere where the buyers’ currency is stronger than ours makes Sydney very attractive to buy in,” says Sotheby’s International Realty agent Michael...

Perth now has 39 suburbs where the median price of a home is at least $1 million. CoreLogic RP Data says that there were 35 earlier this year but despite 8 falling below the seven-figure threshold more have risen above. Peppermint Grove is still the most expensive suburb by median value in Western Australia at...

Suburbs nestled in Melbourne’s inner-eastern school belt have long been understood to be a safe bet for houses, but it’s now also hailed an apartment hot spot.
The prestigious suburbs of Kew, Hawthorn, Camberwell, Balwyn and North Balwyn were identified by Andrew Leoncelli, managing director at CBRE residential projects, as the best locations to buy at...

To buy a median-priced property in Sydney you need to be earning more than $106,000 a year.
The average annual wage in Australia is around $75,000, which means as property prices in Australia continue their hot run, more people are finding buying home is an unattainable dream.
Read more.
...

Tips for First Home Buyers in Australia - How to buy your first home the right way
Buying your first property is an overwhelming process. There are new terminologies to be learned, processes that you never knew existed and what's all this talk about first home owner grants? Hopefully, after reading this page, you'll feel more confident...

With housing affordability an issue for many Western Australians and increasingly on the national agenda, entering the Perth property market can seem a daunting prospect.
If you’re looking to buy and want to know which Perth suburbs are the most affordable, you may want to look south, with reiwa.com data showing that Perth's 10 most affordable...

Property values in Australian capital cities increased 0.3% in August with Sydney seeing the highest growth at 1.1% compared with the previous month.
The latest home value index from CoreLogic RP Data also shows that there were considerable variations in the performance of the housing market from city to city.
Read more....

Tasmanians and Queenslanders are the nation's worst for keeping up with home loan repayments.
A report from ratings agency Fitch shows just under one in a hundred mortgages in Tasmania, or 0.99 per cent, were 30 days or more in arrears at the end of March.
Read more here....

China’s market turmoil is raising the risk that wealthy Chinese investors will pour more money into an already overheated Australian property market, Australia’s top finance official warned.
Read more here....

Australia's tighter regulations on foreign property ownership not affecting Singaporeans' interest: Estate agents
Under Australia's foreign investment regime, foreigners are only allowed to purchase new dwellings. Authorities say they will introduce legislation into Parliament to ensure that the reforms will commence on Dec 1.
Read more here....

There are a lot of things said about Sydney. But have you ever heard anyone describe its real estate as cheap?
Well, I did last week when I spoke to a consultant and researcher based in China, Shaun Rein. He’s also the author of two books on China. He deals with a lot of wealthy Chinese...

RealtyTrac's July U.S. Home Sales report is a tale of extremes. July sales of properties in foreclosure and all-cash transactions both dipped to multi-year lows while home sales for the first six month of 2015 and July home prices hit seven and eight year highs.
Read more here....

The massive jump in the cost of buying or renting a house is having a profoundly negative impact on Australia, and policies imposed by Canberra and state governments are making the problem worse, a housing expert has warned.
Social Services Minister Scott Morrison on Thursday released Australia's Welfare 2015, the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare's...

Think you are paying too much rent? Want to know the value of that glamorous pad down the road?
Thanks to a new tool on the Australian property site Domain, the answers are a little easier to work out. Finding out such things used to be a costly or annoying data hunt, using multiple websites and...

A tightening in Sydney’s vacancy rate shows supply is meeting demand, according to the Real estate Institute of New South Wales (REINSW).
The July 2015 REINSW Vacancy Rate Survey reveals the number of properties for rent across Sydney fell 0.2 per cent to 1.9 per cent.
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Long-time readers may remember that last year I sang the praises of Antifragile: Things That Gain From Disorder, a book by Nassim Nicolas Taleb. He was also the author of The Black Swan, the book that made him famous.
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Mortgage rates continued lower today, bringing most lenders to their best levels in more than 3 months. The average conventional 30yr fixed rate for top tier scenarios is now edging closer to 3.875%, though 4.0% is nearly as prevalent. By a small margin, today's rates are the lowest since late May. Some borrowers will see...

The government’s long publicised plan to hit banks with a deposit tax is closer to lift off.
Originally it looked as if the tax reform would apply to all banks from 2016 onwards. But the latest proposal, by Treasurer Joe Hockey, involves an exemption for small banks and credit unions. The plan would leave the big...

For two months now, business confidence looked to be on the rise in the Australian economy. But that uptick in sentiment hasn’t lasted. Overall business confidence fell sharply in July, according to a new NAB survey.
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In every area of your life, it’s important to submit yourself to a checkup to find out how you’re doing. That way, you can make course corrections and ensure that you’re remaining on the path to the success you were born to experience.
This is especially true about your finances. Your fiscal health affects your overall...

Michael Knight paid little mind to the dark-haired man walking in his direction, past the luxurious cars and large gates on Mulgoa Street, in Melbourne's upmarket beach suburb, Brighton.
At least not until the man stepped close, twitched his jacket to suggest he was carrying a gun and issued an unforgettable threat to the senior Westpac...

If the façade of your home or investment property is showing its age or you are ready for something new, there are some techniques that you can use that are surprisingly simple and easy on your budget.
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Australia has intensified crackdown on illegal foreign owners of residential property in the country, by ordering the selling of such properties even as banks and law enforcement authorities are being warned about the risk of real estate becoming a conduit for money laundering and financial crimes.
Read more here....

A leading property investor says Perth's house prices will continue to fall and expects the median for the WA's capital to crash below $500,000.
Perth's median house price has been steadily declining since it hit a peak of $551,500 in December 2014, according to the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia.
Read more here....

“Sydney and Melbourne are about 80 to 90 per cent near its cycle and it’s probably about as hot as I have seen for some time,” Mr McGrath, the chief executive of McGrath Estate Agents, told a conference in Melbourne today.
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Last month, Australian banks raised interest rates for property investors and introduced tougher loan-to-value standards in response to a move by regulators to rein in the riskier corners of the country’s house price boom.
Read more here....

The area of Albany has emerged as the best performing regional centre for West Australian property over the last financial year, according to the Real Estate Institute of Western Australia (REIWA).
Data released this week by REIWA shows the Albany Urban Area had 5.3 per cent growth in median house price over the last year, lifting...

Do you worry about superannuation? If you’re nearing retirement, chances are it’s one of the biggest concerns on your mind. Maybe you’re convinced that you’ll need $1 million to retire comfortably. At least, that appears to be the conventional thinking.
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A Nobel Prize laureate has cautioned that Sydney and Melbourne's real estate markets are showing indications they are in a housing price bubble.
The 2002 awardee, Professor Vernon Smith, told the ABC that the country needs to learn lessons from the subprime mortgage bubble in the United States which resulted in a housing crash and the...

Australia’s property investors appear to be shying away from the housing sector, as less money is being placed into new apartments.
In WA alone, building approvals have dropped more than 13% in June – the lowest since 2013. Apartment and unit approvals fell sharply in the area, as private home approvals went down 4.7% after a...

China’s property market downturn has played out largely as UBS economists has expected.
But they also believe that the “adjustment is only halfway through” and will “still drop 10-15% this year”.
That continued fall in “Chinese (property) demand has a disproportionately large impact, and remains a downside risk” for the Australian economy, according to UBS Australia economists...

There’s a lot of noise out there in the property market right now.
Investors are constantly second guessing the future direction of the market. Analysts can’t seem to agree on whether the outlook is positive or not.
Read on....

Despite complaints from the real estate industry that it’s overtaxed, Australia lags behind its peers when it comes to the tax take from property according to a new report from the Grattan Institute. Read more....

When selling your home it’s fair to say you are looking to achieve the best result for your property in the shortest amount of time. There are a lot of factors that can contribute to how quickly your home is sold, but when it comes to some of the things that may be holding you...

Australia’s biggest lenders will have to set aside more capital against potential losses on home loans, the nation’s banking regulator said Monday in its latest move to bolster the financial system. Read more....

The government’s plan to limit foreign investment in Aussie property is flopping. In February this year, the Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB) was tasked with clamping down on illegal home purchases by overseas buyers. Since then, only one Chinese buyer has been forced to sell up. Read more here....

In case you hadn’t noticed while Greece has hogged the headlines, the Chinese stock market is in full-blown meltdown mode. To the extent that this drop heralds economic weakness in China, it’s a huge potential hazard for Aussie investors. Read more here....

Household wealth in Australia rose by $232 billion in the March quarter, topping $8 trillion for the first time, according to an article in the Australian. However the article also says that unless you own lots of shares, have plenty stashed away in super, or are invested in housing, chances are you didn't get a...

Are foreign property investors the “elephant in the room” when it comes to housing affordability in Australia?
A north shore councillor believes foreign property investors are the “elephant in the room” when it comes to housing affordability in Australia, with many outbidding local residents in buying apartments....

On Tuesday 5th May the Reserve Bank of Australia announced a rate cut of 0.25%, that is all good news right?
I wanted to spend a little of your time with a bit of an attempt at a satirical piece negotiating our way through some of ‘spin‘ the marketing departments of banks put out with their interest...

One of our Helpcompare clients, are in the property marketing looking for a new home for their family. The great news was they quickly found a home that they thought would be right for their family.
In fact, looking on Realestate.com.au the pictures and commentary about the property were glowing. The Helpcompare team were excited and...

Professor Abbas Valadkhani from Swinburne University has published research findings that suggests that "The mortgage interest rate spread of all lenders has risen since the GFC (Global Financial Crisis)". He goes on to say, "That given the increasing use of internet banking, borrowers are in a much better position to carefully compare the standard variable...

Complete our FREE home loan comparison report and Helpcompare.com.au will now provide you a FREE property comparison report on the property you are looking to purchase. Or if you are considering refinancing, we will also provide a FREE comparison report on your existing home.
This information is provided by RP Data Australia's leading property solutions company.
So...

Buyers Market For Property and Loans
With the Reserve Bank keeping interest rates on hold and their minutes from the their meeting suggesting no movement in interest rates for the rest of the year, this will see home loan rates remain at an all time low.
The banks continue to perform well, recording strong profitable returns –...

In 'The Conversation' today 15/4/04, the headline is 'Looking for a home loan? Choose from one of these four options....
It mentions that 40% of all mortgages are sold by mortgage brokers, however most of these mortgages are coming from one of the four major banks. Suncorp CEO, Australia's 5th largest bank argues that a lack...

Having worked in the mortgage lending space for close to 30 years, I just take for granted that I compare the various product features and price as part of my annual review of our finances…don’t we all? However, since I decided to work full time in the Helpcompare.com.au business I have been amazed at how...

Like many of you, I look forward to reading what Scott Pape from the Barefoot Investor has to say in his Saturday column from the Herald Sun.
This weeks article talked about sex. Thats right sexually transmitted debt to be exact. He developed three rules or advice on what we all should do to keep ourselves...

Well competition in the fixed rate market continues to get hotter. As I sit at my desk I see the Helpcompare product database has been updated with new low fixed rates from one of the major banks. This particular major is now offering 4.84 per cent for a two year term, 5.06 per cent for...

Last night I was watching The Block. And during the course of the show, the major sponsor, National Australia Bank, launched a promotion called "Dob in a Delayer". Now, I'll declare my bias up front, I am good friends with the head of Marketing at the NAB, but I had no awareness of the campaign,...

The Mortgage Finance Association of Australia (MFAA) reported that brokers wrote $123 billion of loans last year, compared to $100 billion in 2012. Volumes are forecast to keep rising in 2014.
Brokers wrote 47.3 per cent of all home loans in Australia during the December 2013 quarter after writing 46.4 per cent in the September quarter,...

The Helpcompare team tracked an increasing number of lenders, reducing their two and three year fixed rates last week. Depending on the term of the fixed rate you can now get a fixed rate well below 5% in the Australian lending market.
But what is advertised is not always what the true cost of the loan...

Over the weekend, I really thought about WHY we started Helpcompare.
What I realised was we were about making it easier for people to find the most suitable loan for their needs at their current stage in life. But what does that really mean? What it comes down to is we want to help people manage...

Last Tuesday, the RBA (Reserve Bank of Australia) met for the first time this year. The good news was RBA did not increase interest rates. But what does this really mean? Governor Stevens announced that the official rate would be held unchanged for an extended period. Although, the media picked this up as a message...

A recent report from Bill Evans gave predictions for interest rates for 2014.
Westpac Economics revised its forecast on interest rate movements, expecting the RBA (Reserve Bank Australia) to reduce rates in February 2014 rather than November of last year. With a second 25-basis-point cut predicted in May 2014, the official cash rate could reduce to...

A great budgeting idea is to use your credit card to manage your money, earn reward points on your credit card and save interest on your home loan which all means paying off your loan sooner.
A common myth among many people is that living off your credit card is dangerous and will only lead to...

With variable rates at an all time low, is it now time to fix some or all of your loan into a fixed rate period?
Although, competition in variable rates is fierce the ability to fully understand what lenders have the best-fixed rate and the best features is a little trickier.
For example if you lock in...

So you'd think, pardon the pun, that when predictions from all the experts were, that the RBA was going to keep rates on hold, that, well, rates would be kept on hold. Mind you, last month the experts predicted, on the whole, a rate rise and the RBA, like So You Think, failed to deliver.
...

6-10-2010 - 1.06am
The RBA has announced that it will not increase the cash rate in Australia, given all current lenders another month to chew over the prospect of a rate rise. It seems that the global markets are of a concern for the RBA and that Australia, whilst performing strongly does not yet warrant the...

It seems that tomorrows RBA meeting will see the cash rate rise. With analysts being reported to have factored in a 50-60% chance of a rise. And this, at a time when the Bankers Association and Banking Executives are signaling...
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> To Fix or Not to Fix your loan?
Sorry to use such a headline, as it’s a scary thought. But this could well have been the headline in the papers back in 1994. And such a thought gives rise to the question, should I fix my loan or not.?
Taking a look at historical RBA rate...

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